Apple Prevents App Reviews While Using iOS 9 Beta

I read some great news from @Ticci of MacStories earlier today. Apple’s latest beta, iOS 9 b4, has solved a problem that has been plaguing developers for a few years now. Many excited tech fans — including yours truly — will flock to each new iOS beta as it’s released over the course of the summer. However, these betas are just that: software that is still undergoing testing. It isn’t ready for primetime yet, even though 80-90% of the features may be working.

The issue has been that people who sign up for the betas don’t always realize this, and they’ll leave a slew of damaging 1-star reviews for apps on the App Store. The developers are unable to address the reported bugs because they can’t issue updates that use beta code until the official release of iOS in the Fall. As a result, the 1-star reviews were left to stand, and there was little that the developers could do about this.

Thankfully, as of iOS 9 b4, whenever you try to leave an app review, you’ll be confronted with the screenshot I’ve included above. This change was almost certainly a result of developer and community feedback, and it’s great to see that Apple has listened.